Walter Nowotny, bron in Austria on December 7, 1920, was the most successful fighter pilot of JG 54 Grünherz, where he served with I. Gruppe. But his career as a fighter pilot had a most unfortunate start. On July 19, 1941, he was shot down by a Soviet I-153 fighter over the Gulf of Riga and had to spend three days in a rubber dinghy before he finally reached the Lithuanian shore. He did not overcome the shock from this until his section leader, thrity-two-victory ace Leutnant Gerhard Lautenschläger was shot down and killed in front of him by a Soviet Kittyhawk on May 16, 1942. Nowotny blew the Kittyhawk out of the sky, and from then on, the spell was broken. On August 2, 1942, he brought home seven kills--bringing his total score to fifty-four. On September 4, 1942, he was awarded with the Knight's Cross. Nowotny's most successful year was 1943. On June 5, 1943 he brought his total to ninety-two by bagging another four. Between June 21 and June 24, 1943, Nowotny achieved twenty-four victories, including ten on the latter day alone-Nos. 115 through 124. Shortly afterward, I./JG 54 was shifted to Orel to participate in Operation Zitadelle, Germany's last major offensive on the Eastern Front. The next two months, Nowotny would attain almost eighty kills-until he reached No. 200 on September 9, 1943. Since August 21, 1943, he served as Gruppenkommandeur I./JG 54. Nowotny brought home forty-five victories during the month of September 1943 alone, and was awarded with both the Oak Leaves and Swords to his Knight's Cross that month. On October 14, 1943 he became the first fighter pilot to reach the 250-victory-mark. Nowotny was then awarded with the Diamonds to his Oak Leaves, and was withdrawn from first-line service. One year later he was assigned to command the first operational Me 262 jet fighter unit, Kommando Nowotny, but was shot down and killed on November 8, 1944.